Never attribute to malice that which is adequately explained by stupidity.

Wednesday, September 19, 2012

Foreign Aid

Like many of you, I have been following the protests in the
Middle East with a heavy heart. Many of you might agree with the idea that
these extremists are the rule rather than the exception, believing Islam, by
its very nature to be a violent religion bent on the destruction of America. If
that is true I am not sure we would ever be safe since close to 25% of the
Earth’s population is Muslim (around 1.7 billion people).

That being said, it is inexcusable for Islamic adherents in
these countries to attack and punish random Americans for an offense committed
by someone else who happens to share the same citizenship. Sure depicting
Mohammed as a pedophile was offensive and inflammatory but that does not give
his followers the right to kill. If an Iranian citizen produced a video
portraying Jesus as a child-molester, I would be upset, but that does not give
me a license to commit acts of brutality against anyone born in Iran. Rudderless
anger and senseless violence only serve to discredit peaceful Muslims and play
into the hands of those who believe all adherents of Islam live only to pursue
violence against those who do not share their faith.

However, by decrying such action on their part we must remind
ourselves that our responses should avoid the same pitfalls. I have heard more
than one person denounce the protestors for their generalized condemnation of
America while suggesting that we pull all diplomats and suspend any and all aid
to countries like Afghanistan and Libya as a retaliatory measure. I dare say this
brand of knee-jerk diplomacy relies heavily on the same mistaken generalities
the Muslim extremists rely on. After all, isn’t holding an entire nation
responsible for the actions of a few of its inhabitants precisely what drives
terrorism in the first place?

Don’t misunderstand me, I tend to lean isolationist in the
area of foreign policy and feel Bush’s insistence on invading two
Middle-Eastern countries was a fool’s errand that cost thousands of lives and
trillions of US dollars while playing into the hands of those who would
gleefully portray the United States as an international bully. As such, I
believe that certain types of humanitarian and economic aid (de-mining,
starvation prevention, healthcare, etc..) are worthwhile causes to be pursued
while other expenditures should be scaled back dramatically and the money spent
here.

So exactly how much American money do we give to foreign
countries? To find out I went to the USAID website (also known as “greenbook”)
and ran a report of foreign aid (both economic and military)from 2000-2010 and
then compared that to the average population of that same time period to
estimate the amount of US dollars for every person residing in that nation. So
who got the most money per capita over the last decade? It wasn’t even close:

·Israel - $4,400 per person ($30.5 Billion to a country
of 7 million people)

·Iraq – $2,000 per person ($59.2 Billion to a country
of 30 million people)

·Afghanistan - $1,500 per person ($46.2 billion to a
country of 29 million people)

In order to gain some perspective let’s look at Egypt &
Libya:

·Egypt - $247 per person ($19.8 billion to a country of
80 million)

·Libya - $8 per person ($73.6 million to a country of 9
million)

We are not exactly underwriting Muslim anti-American
sentiment with these numbers. In Libya we could barely underwrite a decent meal.
In fact, if one were resolutely opposed to giving any American aid to Muslims in
the Middle East then Israel presents quite a conundrum since Muslims make up
almost 18% of the country’s total population (compared to about 0.8% in the
United States). Generally speaking, this means we have funded more Muslims
through Israel than we have through Libya even assuming the
entire population of Libya is Muslim.

The trends of our international generosity are interesting as
well.From 2001-2010:

·Aid to Iraq and Libya was highest in 2006

·Aid to Iran was highest in 2004

·Aid to Jordan was highest in 2003

·Aid to Egypt was highest in 2002

I bring this up only to address the possibility that there is
a correlation between the amount of foreign aid and local unrest. If that were
true, it appears the logical conclusion would be that the more money we sow the
less violence we reap; but most would agree that buying popularity is not a solid foundation for US foreign policy.

One last interesting fact was that the country to receive the
smallest amount of USAID was Iceland. We gave them exactly $83 last year. I
have to wonder how we settled on this number. Did we buy one orphan an iPod
shuffle from the petty cash? Did one of our diplomats drop his wallet in the airport and feel this
was the least embarrassing way to write-off the loss? All I know is, Iceland
better watch their p’s & q’s because if someone so much as litters in front
of the US embassy over there they can kiss that gravy train goodbye.

For the interested, you can go to the following website and
run a 10-year report on any country that receives USAID: